Jewish Groups in France Demand Ban on Larousse Dictionary in Schools

December 2, 1959

PARIS (Dec. 1)

The Prefect of the Department of the Seine announced here today that, in reply to protests from the Government Party as well as from Socialists, steps will be taken to see whether the latest edition of the famous Larousse Dictionary is to be barred from use in the public schools.

Jewish organizations in this city have initiated the demand for the banning of the new edition of the dictionary on the grounds that some definitions show “racist” tendencies. The definitions, to which objectors have been voiced, concern such words as “racism” and other words dealing with wartime Nazi leaders and with the French resistance movement during World War II.

The definitions have been denounced as “tendentious.” The dictionary is at present eligible for use in all government schools, and efforts are being made to broaden the ban beyond the Department of the Seine, to the entire country.